United Nations News Centre - UN convention agrees to double biodiversity funding, accelerate preservation measures

United Nations News Centre - UN convention agrees to double biodiversity funding, accelerate preservation measures A United Nations conference in Republic of Korea wrapped up today with governments agreeing to double biodiversity-related international financial aid to developing countries, including small islands and transition economics, by 2015 and through the next five years. The decision was made at the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP-12) in Pyeongchang. Delegations attending the meeting, which opened 6 October in Republic of Korea’s key mountain and forest region, agreed on the so-called “Pyeongchang Road Map,” and “Gangwon Declaration”, both of which outline conservation initiatives and global sustainable development goals and initiatives. “Parties have listened to the evidence, and have responded by committing,” said UN Assistant-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the CBD, Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias. The funding decision was originally made at the last CBD meeting in Hyderabad, India, in 2012, but there had been disagreement on how to implement it. This time, the participants decided to use average annual biodiversity funding for the years 2006-2010 as a baseline. The targets, in particular, are the least developed countries and the small island developing States, as well as countries with economies in transition. Key decisions taken in Pyongchang, including those on resource mobilization, capacity building, scientific and technical cooperation linking biodiversity and poverty eradication, and on monitoring of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity, form the Roadmap and will, according to the CBD, strengthen capacity and increase support for countries and stakeholders to implement their national biodiversity strategies and action plans. The decisions were bolstered by the call in the Gangwon Declaration, the result of two days of ministerial-level talks, to link the implementation of the post-2015 development agenda to other relevant processes such as the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) process and the national biodiversity strategies and action plans. Governments also agreed to increase domestic financing for biodiversity and boost funding from other resources. “Their commitments show the world that biodiversity is a solution to the challenges of sustainable development and will be a central part of any discussions for the post-2015 development agenda and its sustainable development goals,” Mr. Dias noted in reference to the agenda succeeding the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The opening of the meeting coincided with the release of the Global Biodiversity Outlook 4 report which tracked progress on the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and drew attention to the implications on broader sustainable development this century. The report cautioned that the world was not on track to meet the 20 targets, which include halving habitat loss, and reducing pollution and overfishing. “The cost of inaction to halt biodiversity decline would give rise to increasing and cumulative economic annual losses to the value of around $14 trillion by 2050,” said UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Achim Steiner. “The decisions made at COP 12 here in Pyeongchang will leapfrog efforts to achieve the Aichi targets and put biodiversity on a stronger footing for decades to come,” he added. Among other decisions, participants agreed to address key threats to marine biodiversity, namely anthropogenic underwater noise and ocean acidification. They also agreed to reduce land based pollution, promote sustainable fisheries and improve the design of marine protected area networks for coral reefs, in line with Aichi Biodiversity Target 10 for coral reefs and closely associated ecosystems. While in Pyeongchang, participants also held the first Meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol (COP MOP-1), which entered into force on 12 October after ratification by the 51st Government. As of today, 54 countries have ratified it. The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing from the Utilization of Genetic Resources establishes clear rules for accessing, trading, sharing and monitoring the use of the world’s genetic resources that can be used for pharmaceutical, agricultural and cosmetic purposes. Among the decisions agreed to in that meeting were measures to assist institutional capacities in developing countries, and a strategy to raise awareness of the international instrument. “We need to see how the provisions of the Protocol are taken up at the national level,” Mr. Dias said, “and how this facilitates access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits with those stakeholders and indigenous peoples and local communities who conserve and sustainably use those resources.” In addition, countries agreed on procedures to establish a committee to promote compliance with the Protocol and address cases of non-compliance.

EWG’s Dirty Dozen Guide to Food Additives | Environmental Working Group

EWG’s Dirty Dozen Guide to Food Additives | Environmental Working Group Wednesday, November 12, 2014 Food should be good for you. But some isn’t. More than 10,000 additives* are allowed in food. Some are direct additives that are deliberately formulated into processed food. Others are indirect additives that get into food during processing, storage and packaging. How do you know which ones to avoid because they raise concerns and have been linked to serious health problems, including endocrine disruption and cancer? EWG’s “Dirty Dozen Guide to Food Additives” helps you figure it all out by highlighting some of the worst failures of the regulatory system. The guide covers ingredients associated with serious health concerns, additives banned or restricted in other countries and other substances that shouldn’t be in food. And it underscores the need for better government oversight of our food system. Here’s a list of 12 additives that EWG calls the “Dirty Dozen.” We’ll tell you why, which foods contain them and what you can do to avoid them. (A good place to start is by looking up your food in EWG’s Food Scores database).

The human impact on this Earth.

Conservation Groups File Lawsuit to Protect Struggling Walruses from Arctic Drilling | Earthjustice

Conservation Groups File Lawsuit to Protect Struggling Walruses from Arctic Drilling | Earthjustice Anchorage, AK — A coalition of conservation organizations filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today, challenging a rule that permits oil companies, like Shell Oil, to harm Pacific walruses during Arctic Ocean oil drilling beginning as early as next year in key walrus feeding areas. Approximately 35,000 walruses gather on the northwest coast of Alaska, near Point Lay, on Sept. 27, 2014. Approximately 35,000 walruses gather on the northwest coast of Alaska, near Point Lay, on Sept. 27, 2014. Corey Accardo / NOAA The Arctic Ocean’s sea ice is rapidly melting due to climate change, creating dire consequences for Chukchi Sea walruses which depend on the ice for resting, raising their young, feeding, and avoiding predators. As a result of this melting, the walruses have been forced ashore in recent years. This year it happened again as 35,000 walruses crowded together on the Alaskan Arctic coast just a few weeks ago. Walruses must swim distances up to 100 miles from these coastal haulout areas to reach Chukchi feeding grounds to find the clams and other bottom species they need to survive. They are vulnerable to stampedes and trampling when forced to use coastal resting areas. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife rule puts these already at risk mammals directly in harm’s way by allowing risky oil company operations in key walrus foraging areas in the Chukchi Sea. This rule is being challenged by Earthjustice on behalf of Alaska Wilderness League, Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace, Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands, Sierra Club and by the Natural Resources Defense Council. The Fish and Wildlife Service adopted this regulation, which allows for “the incidental take of walruses in connection with oil and gas activities,” even though the agency acknowledged that walruses could be affected adversely in large numbers in crucial habitat areas like the Hanna Shoal. Shell Oil intends to drill under this government rule as early as 2015. The company was investigated and fined after multiple missteps and close calls during its efforts to drill in the Arctic Ocean in 2012, only to call its work in the region a success. Oil operations have the potential to chase walruses away from food-rich foraging areas, trigger stampedes, and harm the animals with deafeningly loud seismic blasts. Drilling risks catastrophic oil spills that could not be cleaned up in Arctic conditions. The September minimum sea-ice extent reached a new record low in 2012, encompassing only about half the area it covered on average from 1981–2010. In 2014, the sea ice shrank to 5.02 million square kilometers (1.94 million square miles), the sixth-lowest extent of the satellite record. “The Fish and Wildlife Service needs to do a much better job of protecting walrus mothers and calves struggling to survive in the dramatically changing Chukchi Sea,” said Earthjustice Attorney Erik Grafe. “Today’s challenge seeks to protect walruses from suffering potential serious harm and harassment at the hands of companies like Shell Oil, which crashed and burned during its Arctic Ocean drilling efforts in 2012. Walruses are already under tremendous stress from climate change—their sea ice home is literally melting away. Without adequate analysis, the challenged rules would add to walruses’ woes by allowing drilling and risking oil spills in the areas most important for food and resting. What’s more, drilling would accelerate the climate change already causing so much trouble for walruses.” “Walruses are the Arctic’s canary in a coal mine,” said Cindy Shogan, executive director for Alaska Wilderness League. “We can’t ignore the signs and impacts of climate change in the Arctic. The Interior Department must better protect walruses and the fragile Arctic Ocean with its disappearing shoreline from harm by big oil companies, like Shell. Adding drilling into this already dangerous mix is reckless and irresponsible.” “The last thing Arctic walruses need is dirty drilling in the middle of their most important habitat. It’s time for oil companies to stop sticking their drills where they don’t belong, and it’s up to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to lay down the law,” said Rebecca Noblin of the Center for Biological Diversity. “Shell is putting the Arctic walrus in double jeopardy. Their world is melting because of oil companies’ greedy thirst for more fossil fuels, and now their home will could be under imminent threat from a Shell spill. The Obama administration needs to put sane regulations in place that protect this sensitive species,” said Greenpeace Arctic Campaign Specialist John Deans. “The Fish and Wildlife Service wants to decide first, think later,” said Michael Jasny, director of Marine Mammal Protection at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Before it has all the facts, the agency is casting its lot with a few big oil corporations—instead of the tens of thousands of mother walruses who must swim massive distances before hauling up to rest and feed their young.” “Walruses already are under great stress from climate change. This rule would allow oil drillers to risk further harm to the species without proper analysis and mitigation. The risks are too great—if drilling resulted in an oil spill, there would be no way to clean or contain it, and the consequences could be catastrophic,” said Robert Thompson of REDOIL. "The danger to walrus is one more in a long list of serious risks posed by drilling in the Arctic Ocean," said Dan Ritzman, Alaska program director for the Sierra Club's Our Wild America campaign. "We should not sacrifice the Arctic's amazing wildlife, the subsistence culture that depends on it, or our climate to dirty drilling. The effects on walrus and other wildlife will only worsen if we don't begin keeping dirty fuels in the ground." Read the case complaint.

No more debates on climate science, over to leaders

GLAND, Switzerland) – Today in Copenhagen, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released the final volume of its Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). The report represents seven years of work by more than a thousand scientists globally from 160 countries. Commenting on the report, Samantha Smith, leader of WWF’s Global Climate and Energy Initiative says: The world’s best climate scientists have given us a solid, thorough and conservative measuring stick for the global effort on climate change. This report has been approved by all 195 IPCC member governments as well as scientists. It represents an extremely broad and global scientific consensus on climate change. It tells us that climate change is already affecting people and nature everywhere. Ocean acidification, sea level rise, extreme heat events, and profound changes in the Arctic show that climate change is already a fact. It tells us that we are the cause, and that our addiction to fossil fuels is the overwhelming source of the pollution that is changing our climate. But while the report details the dire effects of an unstable climate, it also spells out a clear path to a cleaner, safer future. Its key findings are: 1) The world can afford to fight climate change. This will neither cripple economies nor stop development – to the contrary. What is clear is that inaction will be much more costly, even when considering conservative estimates. 2) It is not too late to avoid catastrophic climate change. Rapid, decisive action to get out of fossil fuels in particular can keep global temperature increases under 2º Celsius, which is the threshold indicated by science to avoid dangerous climate change, and agreed by governments. 3) There is a carbon budget – a limit on how much we can emit - and we have already used most of it. Globally, emissions must go down quickly, with emissions peaking this decade and going to zero mid-century if we want to avoid catastrophic climate change. Governments, businesses and indeed all of us must move beyond small steps, and move into phasing out fossil fuels completely. 4) Adaptation to climate change is critical, but there are sharp limits to it. Without immediate action on emissions and limiting impacts, adaptation will not be sufficient to protect lives, livelihoods and the natural world on which people depend. 5) Whether we act to cut emissions and adapt raises issues of equity, justice and fairness. If we fail to act, we jeopardise efforts to reduce poverty and endanger food, water and livelihoods for many of the world’s poor. We also leave today’s youth and future generations with a nearly insurmountable challenge. In New York in September, people from all parts of society marched to demand action. Faith leaders, business, trade unions, students, grassroots organisations, civil society groups and individual citizens have called on governments to act swiftly and with ambition. Now, it is their turn – to use their broad mandate, provide the billions needed for this transition, and agree on the way forward for a global climate deal in Lima. © IPCC Enlarge Related links More on WWF's work on climate and energy

Top Four Reasons the American Bison Makes a Great Mascot | Earthjustice

Top Four Reasons the American Bison Makes a Great Mascot | Earthjustice We get some interesting mail at Earthjustice, but one letter we received this week was too good not to share. It came from Detective Christopher Derry of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Fraud & Cyber Crimes Bureau, which immediately got our attention and had us on the verge of changing all our passwords. But Detective Derry wasn’t warning us of some imminent threat of identity theft. Addressing the letter to attorney Tim Preso, who leads much of our wildlife protection work out of Bozeman, Montana, Detective Derry explained that the bureau voted to make the American Bison its mascot, and he wanted to thank Earthjustice for our efforts to protect the species and restore it to its native lands. Detective Derry listed the following reasons for why the bureau chose the American Bison to represent the work of its team: “In Native American folklore, the American Bison is traditionally associated with endurance and protection. These are character traits to which all of us aspire.” “The American Bison is not afraid to turn into, and walk directly toward an oncoming storm. While other animals panic and look for a place to hide, the Bison forges ahead, fearlessly, into the storm. Some researchers believe that Bison instinctively know a storm will pass quicker if they turn and walk toward it. In our bureau, many of our cases are like 'storms' with thousands of pages of documents and mind boggling complexity. Every day, we endeavor to face the 'storm' with courage and resolve.” “The Bison is a majestic creature with imperturbable demeanor.” “Both the male and female Bison have horns.” Sometimes we struggle to explain why protection of wildlife is so important to people, but this letter is a great example of the inherent value of these vital species. Protection of wildlife is about preserving what remains special and mysterious about the world in which we live. The return of the American Bison to the Great Plains is a victory for preserving our American heritage. We thank the Los Angeles Fraud and Cyber Crimes Bureau for the work it does and for honoring this majestic creature. Maggie Caldwell is an award-winning newspaper reporter and magazine journalist. She works at Headquarters in San Francisco, CA. Her passion for protecting the earth stems from a childhood running around in the woods of Connecticut. Outside of providing good press for the planet, she is an avid soccer player, a highly competitive lawn sports athlete, and a lover of long hikes, hidden rivers, and reasonably priced wines.

United Nations News Centre - UN refines Ebola response amid efforts to bring outbreak under control by 1 December

>head of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER), Anthony Banbury, visits a site for safe and dignified burials for Ebola victims in the Sierra Leonean city of Kenema. Photo: UNMEER 7 November 2014 – The United Nations health agency today announced a new burial protocol for Ebola victims aimed at reducing the risk of exposure to the disease for family members as they bury their loved ones in accordance with religious rites amid Organization-wide efforts to control the deadly outbreak by a 1 December deadline.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 20 per cent of new Ebola infections occur during burials of diseased Ebola patients when family and community members perform religious rites that require directly touching or washing the highly infectious body.
“By building trust and respect between burial teams, bereaved families and religious groups, we are building trust and safety in the response itself,” Dr. Pierre Formenty, one of WHO’s leading Ebola experts, said in a press release.
The new protocol was developed by an interdisciplinary WHO team in tandem with faith-based organizations and encourages the inclusion of family and local clergy in the planning and preparation of the burial, as well as the burial itself. It falls in line with a UN-wide directive aimed at managing and treating 70 per cent of Ebola cases and making safe 70 per cent of burials by 1 December.
In addition, the protocol provides sensitivity guidelines for when Ebola burial teams first meet victims’ families, including abstaining from wearing personal protective equipment and asking the family if there are specific requests for managing the burial and personal effects of the deceased.
“Introducing components such as inviting the family to be involved in digging the grave and offering options for dry ablution and shrouding will make a significant difference in curbing Ebola transmission,” Dr. Formenty continued.
Meanwhile, in a press briefing from Geneva, the UN children’s agency (UNICEF), stated that its “massive” Ebola operation in the most-affected countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea, would see a doubling of supplies for frontline health workers, including a newly developed coverall impermeable to the Ebola virus.
Based on the agency’s planned scale-up, UNICEF would need at least 1 million of the new coveralls by 1 December, in addition to supplies of other protective gear, chlorine and essential medicines.
Moreover, the agency said, the number of UNICEF staff on the ground would double from 300 to 600, with a particular focus on being with the communities to support social mobilization and to help service delivery.
“This is the most complex emergency to which we have ever had to respond, and it has required agility in the provision of products, supply chains and service delivery,” said Shanelle Hall, Director of UNICEF’s global supply and logistics operations.
“Supply chains have had to be flexible, and meet extremely high standards of quality,” she continued.
“UNICEF is working with governments, industry and partners to establish whole new supply chains so that we are able to deliver dozens of new products to new service delivery locations.”
The UN’s refined efforts aimed at controlling the Ebola outbreak will be dealt a substantial assist when an experimental vaccine, currently undergoing laboratory testing, is issued to the affected West African nations. The vaccine could be dispatched as early as January 2015.